Business Mastery

I wrote about perspective the other day and it reminded me of the universal law of relativity. John Assaref covered it recently in his blog. He made the observation one’s wealth depends upon its relativity to Bill Gates or a citizen of the third world. I enjoyed reading it and how well it dovetailed into the point I made about perspective.

It also reminded me of a conversation I had with him earlier this year about the Five Musts for Success.

(more…)

I had a very interesting conversation with my breakfast waiter on Saturday. She was off to a great start for the weekend.

She asked if I had watched the presidential debates on Friday. When I said that I had, she replied it is so much fun watching an “experienced hand grappling with a wanna be” for the office of the president. She told me it “was a great time to be alive” during the “history making financial crisis”.

(more…)

My friend Chet Holmes developed a list of attributes of a highly effect executive. This is a great place to share them with you and to give my thoughts about their applicability.

• Master of strategy. This goes far beyond having a strategy, executing on the strategy and making continuous course corrections. Being a master of anything means that the skill has been internalized to the point it has become a part of your actual identity.
• Fanatic attention to detail. You may have heard “the devil is in the details”. The tiniest defect in any mechanism can lead to spectacular failure. Think about these first two points. Strategy and detail are polar opposites. A true master of executive management must have both in abundance.

(more…)

Becoming great at anything is a daunting task. Well, at least that is the common thinking.

First, let’s determine what success is. The questions we can ask ourselves to decide on the answer might be these:

1. Is success the achievement of a worthwhile goal? Or, is it
2. The journey towards the worthwhile goal? Or, is it merely
3. Setting a goal of greatness?

(more…)

I have gotten a lot of direct feedback on my recent post on Business Cycles. Some have even said that I am gleeful about the current Wall Street and financial sector turmoil.

That’s not quite it. 

I do feel that uncertain times are the ones most abundant in new opportunities.

That’s why I am such a believer in navigating the ocean in a submarine. That’s why I believe in using a modern torpedo instead of an old WWII version.

(more…)